5 Myths About Pandemic Panic – “Winter is almost over, and it appears that we’re going to make it through another flu season without a global disaster. That may seem like a miracle after the hysteria generated in recent years by SARS, avian flu and the World Health Organization’s standing warning that it’s “a matter of time” before the next influenza pandemic strikes. But the truth is that the threat is being hyped….”

FiveFingers Shoes – “takes a minimalist approach to barefooting. Non-marking Vibram TC1 performance rubber soles protect your feet and provide a sure grip over a variety of terrain…”

Mosquito laser gun offers new hope on malaria – “AMERICAN scientists are making a ray gun to kill mosquitoes. Using technology developed under the Star Wars anti-missile programme, the zapper is being built in Seattle where astrophysicists have created a laser that locks onto airborne insects…”"

The roundest objects ever built by hand – “See that object above, on the right? It’s the most perfectly spherical object ever made by hand. It’s only the size of a ping pong ball, but its surfaces are so smooth that were it blown up to the size of Earth, the tallest mountain would be only eight feet high. It’s one of four spheres that are current floating in Gravity Probe B, which is possibly the coolest piece of space engineering evah…”

Molecools – Mocecule visualizer

Brain on a chip? – “Inspired by research in neuroscience, they are building a ‘neural’ computer that will work just like the brain but on a much smaller scale.”

DARPA to build nothingness detector for tunnel sniffing – “Renowned US military tech bureau DARPA has issued a request for an ultrasensitive gravity-measuring instrument which could be mounted in a low flying aircraft and detect underground tunnels…”

Narrowing in on the Higgs boson – “A collaboration between research groups has further refined the mass limits on the Higgs boson. Now it just falls to the Large Hadron Collider to actually observe the particles.”

People with higher IQs live longer – “After taking into account whether they had grown up in a safer, more affluent environment, they established the connection between IQ and mortality…”

Bottled water may contain ‘hormones’ – “Researchers in Frankfurt, Germany, have just reported evidence suggesting that estrogen-mimicking chemicals can leach out of certain plastic bottles. Disturbing as that is, their data indicate that the mineral water dispensed in some glass bottles may also contain such hormonelike pollution — and not because it leached out of the glass…”

Augmented reality toys: because regular toys aren’t good enough – “I guess it isn’t that regular toys aren’t good enough, but they could be so much more. This little battle game is created by Frantz Lasorne, a French designer whose Master thesis is about augmented reality toys using a head-mounted display. The functionality you see is real, although it’ll be some time before the components for a display are affordable (and durable enough for kids to use)…”

Top Keyboards for Gaming and General PC Use – “You don’t have to work with a computer long to realize that not all keyboards are created equal. Some keyboards offer horrible typing feel that makes using them tedious and adds time to your workday. Some keyboards also have strange key layouts that can make typing frustrating…”

CNT Threads Can Transmit Radio Signals and Could Replace Copper Wires – “Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have successfully developed a nano-antenna which transmits both AM and FM radio signals. Carbon nanotubes have already proven their special “abilities” and now the Cincinnati researchers have discovered new applications for this revolutionary material. Vesselin Shanov and Mark Schulz at the UC College of Engineering NanoWorld Lab noticed that by spinning CNTs into strong fibers, they can transmit radio signals…”

The race to control the netbook market – “Bigger than a smartphone and smaller than a laptop, the Internet-ready netbook is one of the only bright spots in a weakening global computing business…”

Life-like walking female robot – “Japanese scientists have unveiled a female humanoid walking robot at Tsukuba City, north east of Tokyo…”. Here’s what she looks like:

15 unconventional wind turbine designs – “Wind Energy has often been touted as one of the most reliable sources of renewable energy. Efforts to harness this awesome power of nature commenced during the primordial age when Persians built the world’s first windmills. The designs of wind turbines evolved over the years, resulting in a standard 3-blade horizontal-axis design which did promise a high level of efficiency. Though efficient, this design was often criticized as a bird-killing machine. The recent focus on sustainability and energy-efficiency encouraged designers to develop unconventional wind turbines, which not only proved to be a boon for the environment but for the ecosystem as well. Here is a list of 15 such wind turbine designs that proved the conventions wrong….”

Vet Tech Finds New Life Form At Texas Zoo – “A Texas veterinarian technician has discovered a new life form during a routine exam of an Attwater Prairie Chicken…”

Motherboard hall of fame – “Last month, we took you deep into the hidden recesses of Intel’s Hawthorn Farm facility, where the company’s enthusiast motherboards are designed and refined. On our way out of the building, we walked down a long hallway that ends with the metal detector gate one passes through when entering the building. This hallway is lined with dozens of mounted, framed motherboards—a veritable walk-through museum documenting Intel’s many years of motherboard innovation….”

Lights, Camera, Ka-Boom! – “Can a cheap little camera survive a big costly blast? That was the question on the minds of Department of Homeland Security scientists and managers watching from behind three feet of reinforced concrete.”

Special Ops Osprey Squadron Ready for Action – “The CV-22, the special operations version of the controversial Osprey tiltrotor, is now ready to take on combat missions for the first time…”

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